(19)
(11) EP 0 892 395 A3

(12) EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION

(88) Date of publication A3:
10.05.2000 Bulletin 2000/19

(43) Date of publication A2:
20.01.1999 Bulletin 1999/03

(21) Application number: 98304789.5

(22) Date of filing: 17.06.1998
(51) International Patent Classification (IPC)7: G11B 7/00, G11B 7/013
(84) Designated Contracting States:
AT BE CH CY DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LI LU MC NL PT SE
Designated Extension States:
AL LT LV MK RO SI

(30) Priority: 17.07.1997 US 896004

(71) Applicant: Hewlett-Packard Company
Palo Alto, California 94304 (US)

(72) Inventor:
  • Hogan, Josh
    Los Altos, CA 94022 (US)

(74) Representative: Jehan, Robert et al
Williams, Powell & Associates, 4 St Paul's Churchyard
London EC4M 8AY
London EC4M 8AY (GB)

   


(54) Phase change media overwrite system


(57) A phase change overwrite system that reduces the phase change material flow which results from the repeated overwrites of the same data on media (53). One of two techniques can be used to solve the overwrite degradation problem. The first is to exploit the fact that a given data sequence can be represented by multiple bit patterns. The second technique is to vary the point in the bit pattern at which writing begins. If the old data is exactly the same as the new data, it is optional whether or not to overwrite the old data.






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